Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents Two River Theater: Love in Hate Nation, by Joe Iconis, with John Simpkins, on Sunday, October 20, 2019 at 7:30pm. Pay Your Age tickets are available for ages 10-35. Your age determines the ticket price. Offer is valid online by entering your age as the code at checkout.

Writer Joe Iconis and director John Simpkins will discuss their turbulent rock romance musical, which is set in a 1960s juvenile hall and tells the story of young people caught in between eras of a changing America. Classic girl group, Wall of Sound-style vocal harmonies meet punk rock spirit in this rebellious and romantic new musical. Sixteen-year old Susannah Son is carted off to the National Reformatory for Girls to get her head put on straight. There she meets the aggressively incorrigible Sheila Nail, and a relationship forms which leads to an all-out “revolution in the institution” as they attempt to break out of the boxes that society has created around them. Cast members will perform highlights prior to the musical’s world premiere at Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey, where Love in Hate Nation will run November 9-December 1. Laura Heywood moderates.

TICKETS & VENUE
$45, $40 Guggenheim Members and Friends of Works & Process
Pay Your Age tickets are available for ages 10-35. Your age determines the ticket price. Offer is valid online by entering your age as the code at checkout.
Box Office (212) 423-3575 or worksandprocess.org
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue, New York
Lead funding for Works & Process is provided by The Christian Humann Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Evelyn Sharp Foundation, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
JOE ICONIS (Music, Lyrics, Book) is a musical theater writer, composer and lyricist. He has been nominated for a Tony Award, two Drama Desk Awards and a Lucille Lortel Award, and is the recipient of an Ed Kleban Award, a Jonathan Larson Award, a Richard Rodgers Award, and is a former Ars Nova artist-in-residence. Joe’s musical Be More Chill (with Joe Tracz) debuted in March 2019 at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre, following a sold-out Off-Broadway run at The Pershing Square Signature Center and a world premiere at Two River Theater. He is the author of Broadway Bounty Hunter (with Lance Rubin and Jason SweetTooth Williams; Barrington Stage Company and Greenwich House Theater Off-Broadway), Bloodsong of Love(Ars Nova, NAMT), The Black Suits (Center Theater Group, Barrington Stage Company), ReWrite (Urban Stages, Goodspeed Opera House), and Theaterworks USA’s The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks and We the People. Musicals currently in development include The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson for La Jolla Playhouse (with Gregory S. Moss, directed by Christopher Ashley), Punk Rock Girl. Commissions: Two River Theater (with Joe Tracz). His music appeared on season two of NBC’s Smash, with his song “Broadway, Here I Come!” hailed by the New York Times as a new entry in The Great American Songbook. Albums: Be More Chill (OCR), which has been streamed over 300 million times; Things to Ruin (OCR); Two-Player Game, and The Joe Iconis Rock & Roll Jamboree, all available on Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records.

JOHN SIMPKINS (Director) is a director and has worked with writer Joe Iconis on six projects prior to Love in Hate Nation. He directed Mr. Iconis’ three-time Drama Desk-nominated Bloodsong of Love (Ars Nova); The Black Suits(Center Theater Group – Kirk Douglas Theatre, Barrington Stage Company);
ReWrite (Urban Stages, Goodspeed Opera House); The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks (Theaterworks USA – Lucille Lortel); Things to Ruin (which he also co-conceived) and all 11 years of the Joe Iconis Christmas Extravaganza. Recent new musicals include the world premiere of Legendale (music by Andrea Daly, words by Jeff Bienstock) at Fredericia Teater in Denmark and the subsequent American premiere at Human Race Theatre Company. Recent new plays include the world premieres of Raging Skillet (by Jacques Lamarre) at Theaterworks Hartford, The Bus (by Jim Lantz) at 59E59 Theaters and
For Better, For Worse (by Reed Arnold). Regionally, he has directed at Sacramento Music Circus, Lyric Theatre Oklahoma, North Carolina Theatre, the Engeman Theater, and Sharon Playhouse (where he also served as Artistic Director). John is Head of Musical Theatre at Penn State University, where he has commissioned and directed Love in Hate Nation, The Last Day(Mike Reid/Sarah Schlesinger), The Lucky Boy (Kirsten Childs) and an Untitled Musical (Sam Salmond) through a New Musicals Initiative he created and curates. Upcoming projects include the World Premiere of
A Hero’s Tale at Fredericia Teater in Denmark and a production of
The Lucky Boy (Kirsten Childs). www.john-simpkins.com
LAURA HEYWOOD is a multi-faceted performer, pundit, writer, & host, known primarily for her expertise and passion for Broadway. Laura attended college at the University of Puget Sound in Washington, where she studied Theatre Arts and writing, and was active in LGBT causes and student media. In 2005 she was recruited to New York City for the launch of Sirius Satellite Radio’s MAXIM channel, based on the popular men’s magazine, as both a producer and co-host. During her decade with the company, Laura was party to the arrival of Howard Stern; the merger with XM Radio; and subscriber growth from 750,000 to nearly 30 million listeners. She was featured on-air as both a host and a station imaging voice; worked as a producer involved with all of Sirius XM’s talk channels; and served several years as Director of Talent & Industry relations, overseeing celebrity talent booking logistics. She was at Sirius XM through the end of 2014. In 2009, Laura created the Twitter account @BroadwayGirlNYC, to document her love of New York Theatre. Initially started on a whim, the anonymous account soon developed a strong following and became a Broadway phenomenon. 2010 saw the launch of “At the Stage Door with @BroadwayGirlNYC,” Laura’s weekly column on BroadwayWorld.com about life as a Broadway fan. Always focusing on the positive, and projecting an identity dedicated to promoting love & excitement about theatre, @BroadwayGirlNYC gained a fanbase of over 20,000 within the first five years. Though still anonymous, she was considered a critical tastemaker and important advocate for all things New York Theatre.
Works & Process at the Guggenheim
Described by The New York Times as “an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process,” for 35 years, New Yorkers have been able to see, hear, and meet the most acclaimed artists in the world, in an intimate setting unlike any other. Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to generations of leading creators and performers. Most performances take place in the Guggenheim’s intimate Frank Lloyd Wright-designed 273-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater. In 2017, Works & Process established a new residency and commissioning program, inviting artists to create new works, made in and for the iconic Guggenheim rotunda. worksandprocess.org.